Officials are assuring college-bound students from Nanaimo and Ladysmith that miscalculated final grades won’t affect their entrance into post-secondary institutions.
Grading discrepancies first came to light Monday after the Ministry of Education began receiving inquiries about inconsistencies with student results. Approximately 32,000 students, who took exams for Communications 12, English First Peoples 12, English 12, French Language Arts (second language) 12 and French Language Arts (first language) 12, were affected and post-secondary institutions across North America have been notified, the ministry said.
In an e-mail, Scott Saywell, superintendent of Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools, said a few students in the school district were affected, but correct grades have been received.
“Revised results have been available to students and schools since 5:30 p.m. [Thursday], and revised transcripts have been issued electronically to post-secondary institutions,” said Saywell. “The ministry is confident in the accuracy of these results and the ministry continues to contact post-secondary institutions to ensure there is no detrimental impact to students.”
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Fred Jacklin, Vancouver Island University registrar, said VIU learned about the errors late in the day Tuesday. No students were affected, said Jacklin.
“We’ve been working with [the ministry] and they’ve assured us that the situation has been rectified and that we should have confidence in the grades we will be receiving from them,” said Jacklin. “We do have full confidence. It was a very short-term issue and there’s every reason to believe that it’s been fully repaired and that the grades are no longer compromised.”
In a press release, Minister of Education Rob Fleming said he understands the errors have caused students stress and reiterated that the situation has been resolved.
“The investigation discovered that human error caused the incident when data was being manually transferred between systems,” Fleming said. “Staff have now checked the updated results for accuracy. System checks and manual spot checks of results at every stage of the process have now confirmed their accuracy. Grades will be communicated directly to post-secondary institutions.”
If students are seeking local advice and support, they can contact the school district at 250-754-5521.
reporter@nanaimobulletin.com
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